Overboard

So as always, I went overboard... I have been prepping for my best friend Grace's new arrival, and I got a little outta control... The shower was great! Lots of people, and she got everything she could want or need... I helped her start to get the baby room organized and if she doesn't go into labor soon I will be painting her baby room with her hubby or her mom (we are way too overprotective to let her do it at this point, she was due last Friday)... But I have also been making A BUNCH of casseroles to freeze so that when her baby finally arrives they will not have to cook... Today, her younger sister was going to go over to her house, but instead I had her come to my house and took her to a movie (after she helped me do chores) so Grace and her husband could spend his day off alone before the baby comes... I say I have gone overboard because I should probably just let her and her hubby do their thing, but I think she is being sweet by letting me help... And it is really helping me to help, it is helping me cope with the fact that I was just late enough again to take a test, just for it to come up negative, as always... I know it will come in the right time, but it is hard to wait... Anyways, Grace's sister wanted to see Twilight, so I was all too happy to go see it again! It was better quality since it wasn't such a huge screen (last time was at the Drive-In)... I think I like it now, even though it is the Cliff Notes version... So That's why I haven't been writing, I haven't had much to write about and I've been super busy... Thanks for hanging in with me, hopefully I will have more to show and tell soon (when baby Bella finally decides to grace us with her presence)!

Another Twilight Ramble...

I finally got Toby interested in my favorite book series of the moment by telling him how Stephanie Meyer writes the same time line from different perspectives (a technique that my dear husband wants to use in the novel he is writing)... We began reading it aloud together... We read about half of Twilight aloud and then I realized it was making us stay awake rather than making us sleepy (because the light was on and someone had to be awake to do the reading) and keeping us up past the 1am bedtime I had made for myself... Then I got the bright idea to buy the audio books! We listened to the rest of Twilight and now we are on to New Moon...

After we finished (well almost finished, we fell asleep right before the end) Twilight, we decided to go see it at a theater before it was gone... Even so it was in limited theaters... We ended up at the Drive In last Friday... We called Karen and Pete to see if they wanted to join us... We were going to try to switch up the double feature (the one showing with Twilight was a cheesy B horror flick that no one wanted to see), so Karen and Pete took their car to the Marley and Me/Bride Wars lot and we watched Twilight while Marley and me was on, then moved over to Karen and Petes car for Bride Wars :)... It was a lot of fun... Toby did not like the movie Twilight... He had gotten so wrapped up in how the characters should be in his head that this disappointed him... Also he hated that it was such a disjointed telling of the story... I still liked it, but of course I think the book is much much better... Though we both agreed that Edward did an amazing job with what he had (Toby also really like his hair!)...

One more thing... In listening to New Moon today to try to catch up to where Toby read to while I was in LA, I realized something that I had overlooked the first time I read the book... In the end of Chapter 6, Bella asks Angela what the date is, and realizes that it is the one year anniversary of her first day at Forks High, January 19th, which is also my birthday! How coincidental is that? In the words of a high school friend Stevie, "I like it!"

Nester I am not...

Okay, here it is, the finished Twilight Garland!

This garland was inspired by Becky's Twilight Christmas Tree...It is not as fluffy as some of y'alls but I am working on limited resources here
(and the weak mantle can't hold much more than this, what were they thinking pushing a mantle all the way to the wall???)... Sorry for the lousy pics, once again, my real camera's dead, it has been for about 4 months now...

It has elements representing each of the four book covers:

An Apple
from the first book, Twilight

A Delicate White Flower
from the 2nd book, New Moon
(this one needs some red in it to look more like the cover)


A Red Ribbon
from the 3rd book, Eclipse


And the pièce de résistance
A Chessboard
from the 4th book Breaking Dawn

(and that is Toby's begrudged contribution to the decorations)

Just for fun, I added a couple of forks

because the books take place in Forks, WA

I also put some snowy wire garland on it because in one of the books they get stuck in the snow (and it adds some sparkle) and I also stuck some red feathers in little bunches on it (aren't you proud of me Nester?) I tried to make it not look objectionable, but all the picks and add ins looked real... real fake! to me (sorry for the corny joke there... I was having a father's daughter moment)

And not at all related to books, but another little inspired touch, some mini rusted barn stars peeping out of one of the pre-assembled picks

(I totally bought it because of that... the rest of it looked kind of objectionable, but I really don't think anyone but me will notice)...

And one more thing
My Peacock tree

(it is much more subdued compared to last year, trust me)
It is a running battle/joke between my sweet hubby and myself that started last year when I wanted to do a classy peacock inspired tree, he said no way no how and so my friend borrowed this mini tree I had from the previous year (yes, that was my only tree the year before I got married, sad, huh?) and covered it with peacocks and the most outrageous ornaments she could find (which were all FAR to large for the little tree) and put it up in my entryway for Toby to be mortified by anytime someone came over... It stayed up till mid January last year :)

More Twilight and...

I just have to say, so that people who have not read the Twilight series understand, that this is not your typical set of Vampire novels. The vampire family in this series is "vegetarian" (for lack of a better term), in other words, they abstain from feasting on humans, and hunt animals instead. There is something to be said, in my opinion, about a person who chooses to go against the grain (no matter how gruesome said grain may be). I am also inspired by Edwards choices regarding his true love, Bella. In this day and age, we are hard pressed to find a romantic novel that is not about sex. In fact, I will not read most romance novels because they are usually just porn for women. They tend to tempt the mind and emotions into thinking that we should have more than we do. There are a few out there, mostly written by Christian authors, that are the exception to the rule, and I have no problem with those, but I won't pick them up myself. *Spoiler alert* In the third and fourth novels, Bella begs to be "turned" (for some unselfish reasons that hide her true reason, to be with Edward for eternity) but Edward refuses to end her human life. He gives her an ultimatum because he knows his family has agreed to do do what she has asked (to protect themselves), he tells her that he will "turn" her himself (because it is what he knows she would prefer) if she agrees to marry him first. He puts her virtue before her desires. I love that. Like I said before, it iis unusual and I really respect Stephanie Meyers for sticking to her beliefs in her writing even if it is not what the status quo (her readers) would necessarily want. Thanks for sharing your imagination with us!

Finally Saw Twilight!

Okay, I am officially "one of those" people... I saw Twilight today, after devouring all 4 books this last week, and despite the tweeks and some odd casting, I loved it! When Bella is looking up "cold ones" on Google, I actually shuddered and said "that's hot" out loud... Out.Loud. Because it was. Hot. "It's like diamonds, you're beautiful" and he is. Beautiful. Charlie I'm not quite sure about... Ava as Esme? Not sure either... But I like Kristin Stewart as Bella, and Edward... Perfect. I also liked Jacob, but I wasn't too sure about Eric or Mike. Alice I totally got and the rest of the fam was okay. Emmet fit to me... It helped that I read the books after the movie came out though... And the scene where Charlie meets Edward... Totally happened to me that way... Homecoming Freshman year... Dad was cleaning the shotgun on the coffee table... Poor Nikko nearly peed his pants... My brothers thought it was HILARIOUS... So even though I didn't see Charlie doing something like that, I totally got a laugh out of it... All in all the changes weren't too terribly distracting (unlike Robert Pattison's other feture, HP 4: Goblet of Fire, could barely even sit through that one because of all of the uneccessary deviations from the book) and I enjoyed it. A LOT. :)
Check out this Music Video from the Soundtrack:

Christmas Tree Inspiration and Most Comments EVER!

Thanks to SITSmas, I got the most comments I have ever had on my last post! Thanks gals! I don't know if I won anything, but it doesn't really matter because I found some wonderful new blogs to read and got some new readers! I love it! Through this, I also found inspiration for my Christmas tree this year, Twilight, from Smile! It's Becky! Mine will be a mini version because I only have room for a 2 ft. tree in my apartment, but it will be beautiful! Last year, I wanted to do a peacock themed tree but Toby wouldn't let me... This year I am not asking... Just doing :D... He's going to say I'm obsessed! Not that he doesn't already know that, I read all 4 books last week without stopping, but I still NEED to see the movie! (Cash flow is still a little low, but I will scrounge some to go see it)... Now I just have to get to cleaning the living room so we can go get our tree!

My Extra Special Christmas Wish List

These gifts are hard to put on a regular list so I am going to list them here in case Santa (or my Mom or my Hubby) needs some hints, these ideas are good for my b-day too *smile*:

1. A Designer Blog Header from
   
2. This class at U Bead It
3. My own XBox Live Account
4. A Deep Freezer (or gift card to somewhere I can get a deep freezer, I would like an Energy Star one...)
5. The first 2 Twilight Books, Twilight and New Moon, Hardcover with Original Covers (ie: not movie edition please) or a Gift Card to Barns & Nobel or Target to get them...
6. Exercise Clothes (Shorts, Shirt, Yoga Pants, Jacket, Speedo Bathing Suit, Goggles), Gym Bag, and Shoes (or Gift Cards to get them - Sport Chalet, Target) to use at the gym
7. This purse (psst - you can get it at Ross) and Matching Wallet
   
8. Any of the Post Secret Books (Post Secret, A Lifetime of Secrets, The Secret Lives of Men and Women, My Secret) by Frank Warren
   
9. The Seafarers Expansion to Settlers of Catan (and 5-6 player expansion for it, this site has a special if you buy them together)
10. Magazine Subscriptions to Real Simple, All You, or ADDitude